Candidates avoid discussing DAPC at forum

The controversy swirling around the duties and €nances of the Development Authority of Peachtree City, a logical topic for debate among the candidates running in the Nov. 4 city council election, was hands-off at Tuesday night’s forum sponsored by the Rotary Club, at least among the candidates running for the Post 2 seat.
City attorney Ted Meeker had issued an order forbidding all city councilmembers, the mayor and city hall employees from discussing anything to do with the DAPC, Peachtree City Tennis Center or the Fred Brown Jr. Amphitheater until an opinion is rendered as to whether the activities of the DAPC violated any laws.
The moratorium mainly affected Councilman Dan Tennant, the lone incumbent in the race, and his opponent for Post 2, Stuart Kourajian.
Post 1candidates James Adduci and Judi-Ann Rutherford addressed the issue when directed their way Tuesday night, even though Rutherford office manager of the Fred Brown Jr. Amphitheater, is technically an employee of the DAPC.
When asked, Rutherford addressed head-on the potential conflict her employment might cause if she is elected to the council, pointing out that the issue remains unresolved and she has no intentions of quitting the race. Legally, she can serve on council and still be employed by the DAPC, city officials have said.
The third candidate in the Post 1 race, Lee H. Poolman, was unable to attend Tuesday, having a prior committment related to his job as a financial systems manager in Fulton County.
His wife, Cass Poolman, said her husband notified Rotary Club officers of the conflict as soon as he got word of the date for the forum, but they refused to change the date. On Tuesday night, event co-chair Frances Meaders told Mrs. Poolman that the club would not provide a list of the questions asked of the other Post 1 candidates so he could respond, saying club members felt he would have an unfair advantage.
Instead, Cass Poolman said, her husband answered the issues based on the notes she took during the session. Poolman’s responses appear in the form of a Letter to the Editor on page A3 of today’s Citizen.
Otherwise, most of the inquiries concerning the authority and its role managing the amphitheater and tennis center, drawn from the crowd of about 200 voters, were directed at Tennant and Kourajian.
Tennant bowed out of every question concerning the DAPC or the veunes, citing Meeker’s request. To a question regarding the DAPC and the “Intergovernmental Agreement” forged last year, Tennant responded, “I’d like to answer that question, but I don’t want to be arrested.”
Kourajian declared, “That’s the easy way out,” and then skirted the issue, adding “I don’t want to get arrested either.”
That response prompted the biggest applause and laughter of the night, which was otherwise tame in comparison to past Rotary Club forums, longtime observers of the 15-year tradition said.
In addition to the DAPC situation, most of the questions revolved around the host of controversies and disagreements that have preoccupied the city in the past year — budget problems and revenue shortfalls, the hiring of an assistant city manager, the development of the “Gateway Project” on Ga. Highway 54 west, and a proposal for expanding the Kedron Village shopping center to accomodate a 125,000-square foot Target store, among other things.
But every question and response, it seemed, shared a common theme: Disagreement for the way things are currently being run.
Predictably, on the issue of city finances, the call was to cut spending before raising taxes. On hiring an assistant city manager, it was agreed that move was the wrong decision to make at the wrong time in the city’s history.
Infighting and personal conflicts among councilmembers and other city officials, it was agreed, is bad for Peachtree City’s reputation. Restoring integrity and ethical behavior to City Hall should be a top concern. Protecting the city’s greenspaces, ordinances and developing what little available land remains in the proper fashion were agreeable topics.
Even the dog park failed to escape, but all the candidates agreed that if the committee building the park comes through on its promises to pay the city back for $5,000 in seed money, it’s a good thing.
Perhaps the greatest conflict among the four concerned a no-smoking ban being proposed by the Fayette County Board of Health.
The question was addressed first to Adduci, who owns Martini’s bar and restaurant in Westpark Walk. Though his business is preparing to add-on a no-smoking section, he said, “If people want to smoke, let them smoke.”
The other three shared the belief that smoking should be banned in public buildings, but stopped short of imposing a moratorium on all businesses.
“If it’s a place where people have to be, then yes, ban smoking,” said Rutherford.
Also on the platform Tuesday was Chris Clark of the Peachtree City Library Commission, there to answer concerns about the $4.9 million referendum to expand the city library that will also be on the ballot on Nov. 4.
“I’m not running for office,” Clark reminded attendees at the end of the forum. “But we’ve got a library crisis in this town, and the opportunity to create something that will be a jewel to this city for years to come.”
Meantime, the request for a criminal investigation into the DAPC matters, being conducted by Police Chief James Murray, was made by Mayor Steve Brown on Oct. 13. While Murray indicated at the time he would offer his decision within three or four days, as of Thursday he had yet to issue an opinion whether the activities of the board and related parties were serious enough to warrant a full-scale investigation.
Meeker issued his legal recommendation to city of€cials not to publicly discuss the case, an ongoing investigation, late last week.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to speak one way or the other in an ongoing invesetigtion ... for or against .. you let it run its’ course ... ‘
Just one more opportunity has been scheduled for voters to get to know the candidates, and it will take place in Fayetteville.
The Fayette County Republican Party will host its First Saturday Breakfast at the International House of Pancakes Restaurant in Fayetteville, beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 1. In addition to the Peachtree City council candidates, the candidates for City Council in Fayetteville have also been invited to be the guest speakers on the program. The meeting is open to the public.